Welcome to DBSTalk

Welcome to DBSTalk. Our community covers all aspects of video delivery solutions including: Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), Cable Television, and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). We also have forums to discuss popular television programs, home theater equipment, and internet streaming service providers. Members of our community include experts who can help you solve technical problems, industry professionals, company representatives, and novices who are here to learn.

Like most online communities you must register to view or post in our community. Sign-up is a free and simple process that requires minimal information. Be a part of our community by signing in or creating an account. The Digital Bit Stream starts here!

The list there includes all the satellite uplinked local channels that were listed in this post, plus all the "OTA guide" channels for each market. A more complete way of approaching the issue. Note that the markets are based on the way DISH flags a channel as being in a market in their uplink data. Most updates are based on uplink data, not personal observation. Corrections concerning what network is on each channel are appreciated.

It is too bad that in a major market like San Francisco Dish carries only five HD channels, none of them public television stations. Currently San Francisco is the number six DMA. Direct offers several more stations in that market in HD.

Drive south to Monterey-Salinas, a short market and the number 124 DMA, and you have Dish carrying four HD stations, only one fewer than in San Francisco--three locals and one distant. Direct doesn't even carry any HD stations in Monterey-Salinas.

Or drive northeast to Sacramento, market number 20. Dish carries one public broadcasting station there in HD, for a total of six HD stations.

This tells me that Dish doesn't have a real interest in the San Francisco DMA, for whatever reason. Direct or cable seems the way to go in that market in order to get many more local HD stations.

Down in Monterey-Salinas, Dish or cable are the choices for HD local stations. I don't see how Direct can compete at all in that small market. Sobongo makes a nice complement to Dish service in Monterey-Salinas, since most people in that market prefer ABC from Los Angeles or San Francisco over Santa Barbara.

Not sure why DISH choses not to offer HD to those markets.......none have any local HD....... so what would be the big deal about providing the national feed of the big 4 for those markets?

The local affiliate would have to agree to such a feed. As the local station wants you to watch their station (and commercials) allowing you to watch a competing national feed is unlikely - especially if the national feed was a better quality feed.

DISH is short on bandwidth to carry all markets in HD. There will be a new satellite at 77 next year to take over the locals there and cover more markets - which will help Eastern Arc customers but they simply don't have room for every local channel in HD.

I didn't realize how many of the smaller DISH markets are absent any HD channels...... and I'm not sure if/when DISH ever intends to provide them to those small markets.........

Not sure why DISH choses not to offer HD to those markets.......none have any local HD....... so what would be the big deal about providing the national feed of the big 4 for those markets?

Rather then worrying about 3D tv, or someother HD movie channel I would hope that DISH would take a big step and provide HD to all these small, rural markets as soon as possible.

The customers in those markets which Dish is not carrying in HD have a few options. They can mount an antenna and go OTA, which may be viable in some cases, not in others. The other thing that those subscribers can do is call Sobongo and request HD distants. Some of those subscribers may qualify immediately, and those who do not qualify immediately can request waivers and hope for the best.

I was wondering the same thing here. In Lansing, Michigan our local PBS is clearly broadcasting in HD - and while all the other local channels are in HD, both the PBS and the My Network affiliates are only carried in SD on Dish.

The channels with a X, why are these channels missing from the market they reside in? I will be moving to the Salisbury Maryland market soon, but I see most of there locals are off.

You might be better off w/ Directv. They do have all the locals from Salisbury and in HD. NBC is the missing affiliate, why Dish network imports WHAG from Hagerstown (on the other side of the state) is a true mystery. Locals arnt going to care about weather/news from the mountains. Directv imports the NBC out of Philadelphia. Why Baltimore or DC isnt used, is another mystery.

It is too bad that in a major market like San Francisco Dish carries only five HD channels, none of them public television stations.

One of the main reasons for this is because PBS wants the sat companies to carry ALL FOUR of the regional PBS stations in HD, or they won't give permission to carry any of them. PBS won't let them just carry KQED, which is by far the largest PBS station in the area, because that would reduce fund-raising funds to the other PBS stations. But it is both expensive and wasteful to carry 4 PBS stations, so Dish has elected not to carry any.

From a quick count, there are 26 markets with one or more HD stations uplinked and not available. I might be wrong on the count. We will see how many of those, if any, are turned on by tomorrow.

Some of them may be disputes where DISH had permission to carry the SD feed but could not obtain permission to carry the HD. The important threshold for DISH is that they offer HD carriage to all stations in 30% of markets ... not that stations accept carriage.

I also note that Lake Charles, LA, has no SD stations offered, only HD. Why is that?

A small market with no non-SD channels to carry. It appears they only have three stations, one apparently in dispute.